Smell/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby A boy, Tim, and a robot, Moby, are in their kitchen. Moby is blindfolded. Tim holds a wedge of Swiss cheese up to Moby's face. MOBY: Beep. Moby holds up a picture card of a banana. TIM: Well, you're getting close. Don't worry about it, Moby. I told you, you just don't have a sense of smell. Hey, listen to this. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, I can smell breakfast cooking all the way up in my bedroom. How does that work? Your Friend, Kazuo. TIM: It's pretty amazing, isn't it? Human scent organs are made of olfactory cells that can detect more than 10,000 different kinds of odors! Ever smell a bowl of steaming soup? An animation shows a bowl of steaming pea soup. TIM: When you sniff, molecules of carrots, onions, chicken, and whatever else is in there float into your nose and dissolve on the surface of your olfactory membrane. The olfactory membrane is a special kind of skin with little hairs on it. An animation shows molecules in the soup's vapor going into a person's nose, landing on the olfactory membrane, and dissolving on its surface. TIM: Those little hairs are called cilia, and they contain chemical receptors. Cilia are labeled on the olfactory membrane. TIM: When a molecule hits the hairs, they send a signal through a nerve to your olfactory bulb. The animation shows signals in the nerve traveling to the olfactory bulb. TIM: The olfactory bulb is an extension of the brain that interprets different kinds of odors. The olfactory bulb's thought bubble reads, mmm, soup! TIM: One smell cell in your nose can distinguish between hundreds of different kinds of smells. Not only that, it can detect odors in concentrations as small as one part per million in air! An image shows a small particle in air that is different from the particles around it. TIM: Humans don't rely on their sense of smell as much as animals do. A bear has to sniff around for food, but we can just go to the supermarket. Side by side animations show a sniffing bear and a human hand holding a can of food. TIM: Sharks can smell a tiny amount of blood in the water from miles and miles away. An animation shows a shark swimming to small drops of blood. SHARK: Mmm! TIM: Animals with strong senses of smell have larger olfactory membranes than we do, and their membranes contain way more receptors than ours. Moby sprays some perfume into the air. TIM: Mmm. Well, I didn't say that we don't use our sense of smell. Your nose can save your life! If you smell smoke, you know there's a fire nearby! Tim smells smoke while he's reading a book and looks alarmed as smoke approaches him. TIM: Not to mention the joys of smelling good food! Food is piled on the table in front of Tim and Moby, including turkey, fish, pie, soup, a sandwich, cheese, chips, and a glass of orange juice. Moby looks sad that he can't smell any of it. TIM: In fact, the senses of taste and smell are closely related. If you weren't able to smell very well, food wouldn't taste as good. That's why things taste bland when you have a cold. An animation shows a sick girl sitting in bed with a plate of hot soup and toast on her lap. She sniffs at the soup and makes a disgusted face. TIM: Your nose is stuffed up, so you can't smell what you're eating. Moby opens his chest door. TIM: Hold still. Tim inserts a chip labeled iSmell 2000. TIM: Mmm, there. Moby sniffs a hot pie. MOBY: Beep. An excited, grateful Moby hugs Tim. TIM: All right, all right. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Health Transcripts